Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-03-18
ASTOSlcHED BEARS.
A Hunter Comes Upon Four of Them Standing
in a Row and Kills Them All.

in Row and Kills Them All.
Whether or not the grounding has sus
tanned the tradition and remained out of
his hole because he did not see his shadow
on the I'd of February. there seems to be
no doubt that the bear has no intention
of breaking the record, writes Pine
Greek, Pa, correspondent of the New
York Sun, for he IS carefully making his
presence felt on the surface, at least in
this part of the wiids of Pennsylvania,
| and John Campbell, a veteran woodsman
OF Pine Creek, and Ben Tomb, Jr., and
Jake Tomb, bark jobbers, can vouch for
the fact.
A few days ago there came a rumor
! from the mountains that a number of
wild turkeys were wintering up along the
creek in an insulated spot, and John
Campbell started out to see what there
might be in the rumor. He'had tramped
about nearly all day in the region where
the alleged wild turkeys were living low
but came upon no signs of the big birds.
He finally tgrred his face homeward, and
as he did so he saw standing on barren
hill, only twenty yards away, no less than
four black bears. Campbell had not ex-
pected to run into menagerie, and the
sight of the four cool and collected mem
DSI5 VI Tue III ulu it lIcI IdluCE
startled him. The bears, however, main
tanned a front SO unruffied and appar-
emily non combatiye that the old
hunters nerves at once resumed their nor
NAL steadiness, and he was content to &C
cept them as a substitute for the un6is-
covered and doubtless mythical wild tur-
keys. The bears stood in a row, their
forms outlined against the sky, and their
~ he
hunter. Campbell was loaded for turkeys
but as a charge that will tumble turkey
in the dust is just as much as the tough
est bear can stand up against, he was as
well fixed for the matter he had in nand
as if he had rammed down the ammuni-
ton for bear in the first place. Camp
bell selected the bear on the upper end of
the row, and sent charge between its
eyes. The bear stood for a moment and
looked as if it would like to have An ex-
PLANTATION of such an unexpected proceed
ing. Campbell thought he had failed in
sending the load where he intended, and
felt some surprise himself, but while he
was preparing to repeat the desc on the
animal the bear dropped like a stone,
gave kick or two and was quiet.
Its three companions were evidently
dumbfounded. They did not move from
their tracks, bat looked first at their
PROSTATE comrade, and then at the hunter
Campbell was not used to such conduct
on the part of bears, and believing that
it would only be in the course of a short
time when they would come to full
realization of the situation and seek re-
venge he b!azeG away at the bear next to
the dead one, and it tumbled
in its tracks without a nIurmur. The
two remaining bears stood as still as
statues, except that they gazed at one an
other in puzzled sort of way, as if they
were unable to agree upon a course of
action. Before they agreed, Campbell
sent a load into the third bear on the
line. That one backed away shaking its
head and roaring. 1t backed but few
steps when it fell and did not get up. The
last of the four turned around and watch
ed its mate until the latter dropped. Then
it wheeled around and faced the hunter
again. Campbell shot the fourth one and
killed 1t almost instantly.
II was disappointed" said Campbell,
when relating the story of this extraordi-
| nary bear slaughter. Il was hopin' that
least one o. them OF fellers a kind O.
resurrect hisself, SOS he could pitch in
| an hcv some fun with NE, but they was
all as dead as stones. L ortn't to drawed
bead on 'em SO fine, as 'twasn't givin' 'em
proper show"
Rem Tomb and Jake Tomb mad neither
turkeys nor bear on their minds when
they went into the woods one day last
week. They simply went up Slate run to
look at bark job. Ben's little dog went
along for company, and Ben carried an
ak. The dog ran on ahead of them in the
woods. By and by they heard him bark
ing furiously, but shortly his barking was
changed to a series of yelps that indi-
Gated trouble on his mind. The men
hurried to see what the trouble was, and
found it in the shape of an enormous
bear, which the dog had started up and
had evidently been fOOlished enough to
think that he could get away with. The
bear had waited for the dog to give him
an opportunity to try and satisfy his am
bitiOn, and has then taken the impudent
canine up III its paws, where he was try
ing to compress him into resemblance of
flapjack. Fortunately for the dog he
vas too small to permit the bear to get
the squeeze on him, and when the hunters
came up they saw the unusual sight of a
bear holding the dog to its breast and
look down at him i'll evident enjoy
nent of his frightened yells. The dog
was favorite of his masters and, when
the latter saw his pets predicament
prudence and fear of possible CON
sequence gave way to indignation,
and Ben Tomb rushed upon the
bear and struck it on the head with his
ak. The bear staggered, but quickly re-
covered, and dropped the dog as if it was
a redhOt iron. The dog sought the deep
/ l,c
Jake to fight it out with the bear. The
latter had no IDEA of Sinking any part
of what it thought was its duty in the
matter, and pitched into Ben. The bear
knocked the ak out of his dssailant's hands
with one sweep of his paw, and it fell to
the ground ten feet away. Left then
with nothing to defend himself, Ben
turned and went rapidly in the direction
the dog had taken, The bear followed him,
and caught him before he had gone TWEEN
ty feet. Fortunately Jake Tomb did
not lose his head, and the AK had hardly
struck the ground when the bear had
knocked ii before Jake had made dash
for it, picked it up, and fell to work with
it on the bear, which was at the time in
very fair way to make shor. shift of Ben.
Jake whacke ed the bear on the back of
tile head with the ak and bruin fell to the
ground stunned, taking Ben down with
it, and falling partially on him. Ben
scrambled from under the bear, and be-
fore it could recover Jake knocked its
brains out with the ak. The whole fight
did not last five minutes, but the boys
We're too much disorganized to proceed
with their inspection or the bark job.
They strung bruin on pole and carried
him home, where they found the dog hid
ing under the bed, hiding place he
could not be induced to leave until the
next day. The bear weighed go pounds.